ANU Scholars Help Lululemon Sprint Towards Sustainability
Australian National University (ANU)
Image source: samsara eco official website
When the sportswear retailerLululemonlaunched its first jacket made from recycled polyester, Rosie Georgelin, a PhD student at the Australian National University, felt proud and excited.
She, along with a team of scientists from the ANU-supported startup Samsara Eco, patented the revolutionary fabric used in Lululemon's clothing.
Rosie said: "The patenting process was challenging because it required proving that what we did was completely innovative, and I'm thrilled to have been part of it."
Sustainable Science
Rosie's academic journey began in the arts, but she changed direction during her gap year in the UK, choosing to work as a rowing coach at a school near London. Upon returning to ANU, she shifted her focus to chemistry, discovering her passion for synthetic chemistry and chemical biology.
Although interested in further study, she hadn't considered pursuing a PhD program co-supervised by ANU and industry companies at that time. The opportunity came when she was pursuing her honors degree at the ANU Research School of Chemistry, and Professor Colin Jackson offered her a research assistant position at Samsara Eco.
Rosie said: "Colin and I have a great working relationship, so when he offered me the job, he knew my work ethic, which suited both of us. In the end, the relevant industry found me, and it was an opportunity I couldn't miss."
Under Professor Colin's guidance, Rosie was able to fully immerse herself in the latest research onplastic-eating enzymesand began her PhD in 2022, focusing onconverting plastics into valuable chemicals.Her research focuses on optimizing enzymes to break down plastics into monomer forms for recycling into new plastics. She is also working on developing chemoenzymatic upcycling methods to convert plastics into other useful chemicals.
Rosie is passionate about solving problems and innovating, researching how to more broadly remove fossil fuels from the chemical supply chain."If we can use plastics as a raw material to replace fossil fuels, it would be a breakthrough."
Learning at a Startup
At Samsara Eco, Rosie wears two hats. She combines her PhD research with the company's mission to contribute to breakthrough progress in plastic recycling. She spends one and a half days a week at Samsara Eco and the rest of her time studying at ANU.
She said: "I think the fun of pursuing a PhD is that it's an opportunity for you to learn and make mistakes."
"In the first two years, I received a lot of guidance and feedback, learning a lot from observing Colin's judgment. Now,I have the skills and ability to be creative in experiments and choose directions.
Rosie's PhD journey will last a total of four years, not only a journey of scientific discovery but also of personal growth and collaboration.
She said: "Samsara Eco is a great place to work, with research grounded in valuable and important things like climate repair."
The perspective and understanding gained from collaborating with industry partners are invaluable to Rosie.
"Doing a PhD in a company means we have access to business, strategy, and project management; these are skills you can't learn elsewhere. It broadens my horizons"she said.
"For us young people in the company, it's an opportunity to learn how startups operate and to understand more about the business aspects needed to commercialize research findings."
*This article was originally published in ANU Research and Innovation News
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